What England won't see this weekend against Fiji is the full Twickenham Photo: Getty Images/Dan Mullan
World of England The Cup will be held in front of a half-empty Twickenham, which symbolizes the growing disappointment of the fans.
Around 40,000 tickets were sold for the final warm-up match, according to Telegraph Sport. against Fiji on Saturday when Twickenham's top court was blocked. The Rugby Football Union remains hopeful that another five days of ticket sales will boost attendance to 50,000 with seats costing £35 for adults and £10 for children.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's match against South Africa on Friday night at Twickenham, seating 82,000, is expected to sell out with fewer than 100 seats left, despite tickets nearly double the price of England's match against Fiji. It will also mark the first time that the England women's team has attracted more spectators than the men's in the same calendar year, with 58,498 spectators for the Six Nations game against France at Twickenham in April.
This will raise alarm in higher echelons of the RFU. Slow ticket sales for the 2023 Six Nations were one of the reasons Eddie Jones stepped down as England manager last year. Much of the RFU's business model is built around Twickenham, the biggest cash cow in the world of rugby, and will be central to the prospects of a new professional gaming partnership being developed with the Rugby Premier League.
However, Jones' departure did not result in a «new manager rebound» with Steve Borthwick only winning three of the eight games he has led so far. Not only were the results deflationary, but England's performance didn't raise much hope ahead of the World Cup. Their average of 2.1 tries per game this year is the lowest of any Tier 1 nation. The English defender hasn't scored a goal since March in 352 minutes of playing time.
England lacks the spark to attack. and as a result it was bad to watch. Credit: Getty Images/David Rogers
Tickets for the World Pool Championship game against Chile also remain on sale, which one travel agent called «unprecedented» given the tournament's proximity. England's game sales are still very strong after reaching the World Cup final in Japan four years ago.
England's last home games at Twickenham ahead of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups drew 80,000 spectators each. Four years ago, England played their last home warm-up against Italy at St James' Park in Newcastle with 50,157 in attendance. This was the last England men's match played outside Twickenham and there are currently no plans to play another game in the north as the RFU's finances are still recovering from the £150m loss it suffered during the Covid pandemic.< /p>
Rugby consultant Mick Hogan played a key role in organizing the match at St James' Park and called the match in Fiji a missed opportunity to capture the attention of fans outside the narrow confines of Twickenham. «The 2019 game was a huge success and was very well received by the North in general,» Hogan said. “We had a lot of people coming from Yorkshire and Lancashire, so it was a game for the whole region. They need to get the game out and showcase England to as wide an audience as possible, but you have to balance that with the publicity that the full Twickenham usually delivers and keeps the money in the sport.
«If it doesn't get filled then this is your chance go somewhere new. I would love to see England host one of the autumn internationals every two or three years and have the participating cities claim it, be it Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool or even Sunderland, all of which would give credit to the big event.» p>The Telegraph Sports Analysis England fans are rife with pessimism
Daniel Schofield
It's hard to say which is more surprising: that the Rugby Union would have been pleased with 50,000 spectators for a men's match at Twickenham or that so many people are willing to submit to another England performance. Perhaps they are all secret Fijians.
Taking part in the final warm-up match on the Saturday before the World Cup, England fans are building their hopes on a combination of blind faith and the kindest tournament rallies. Even then, a group from Argentina, Samoa, Japan and Chile now looks decidedly treacherous in light of England's results and performances this year. The once unthinkable idea that they could not qualify for the quarter-finals in Marseille now seems dangerously logical to many of the thousands of England fans who paid huge sums of money to play in the quarter-finals in Marseille.
Attendance against Fiji in what was supposed to be England's big send-off was an immediate barometer of fans' confidence. Judging by this year's performances, who can blame those left behind?
It shouldn't be like that. On the eve of any major sporting event, England fans tend to be overly optimistic about what many opposing fans would call arrogance. This time there is no such buoyancy. No baths knock. Pessimism abounds. Few would argue with betting odds of 14:1 that England would be champions.
And yet, four years ago, England fielded the youngest team to reach a World Cup final in the pro era. Not everyone laughed when Eddie Jones promised to introduce «the greatest rugby team the world has ever seen» to compete in the 2020 Six Nations. England continued to win that year, although they played very hard. When they stopped winning in 2021 and 2022, Toge remained but Jones did not.
Steve Borthwick fails to get his way The team is playing at a level close to what England fans would expect. Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers
Enter Steve Borthwick, who had well-founded misgivings about sitting at the helm of a sinking ship nine months before the World Cup. One of his top priorities was to rebuild ties with supporters who had broken under Jones. “Our job as a team and my job as a coach is to give our fans a chance to scream,” Borthwick said at his first press conference. “I want to form a team that this country will stand for. We want it to be as noisy on the field as it was before, judging by the way we play, by the way we compete, by the way we fight on the field.”
Twickenham was certainly loud when Borthwick's 12 players rallied to defeat Wales, but as the empty seats against Fiji on Saturday show, the nation has not yet rallied to his call. Bombastic rhetoric aside, there was little difference between the Borthwick era and the later Jones era in terms of winning percentage or obsession with kicking.
Borthwick and his coaching team, especially the indefatigable Kevin Sinfield, have much to admire as individuals. A careful planner, Borthwick focused all his preparations on England's opening match against Argentina on 9 September. Win it, and everything that happened before will be quickly forgotten. You want to believe it will happen. You want to trust this process.
But trust has a limit. England fans need something tangible to base their faith on and shell out the bulk of the £200 to take the family to Twickenham on Saturday. Is the fighting spirit shown against Wales enough? Isn't that the bare minimum for every England team?
There is a disciplinary process against Owen Farrell. The RFU and their tough QC Richard Smith have done their job of helping the England captain avoid suspension — at least until Tuesday — but at the cost of destroying much of World Rugby's important tackle messages.
In a nutshell . In terms of gaming product, there is little to like about the current England team, and Borthwick's initial pool of goodwill is quickly dwindling. For those taking part in Saturday's match at Twickenham, England desperately need to show that their supporters' faith is not entirely wrong.
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